overfeeding DD?

Hello,
I recently started back to work 3 weeks ago when my DD was 12 weeks old. My MIL is watching her for us. She is usually EBF and would nurse every approximately 1.5 - 2 hours. sometimes sooner and sometimes longer if she were napping. So my first week back to work DD ate a total of 9 oz, I work from 7-330; I would wake DD up around 5am to nurse, then pump the rest, as my breasts are full (DD does not wake up much throughout the night to nurse), then I would wake her up again at 630am to nurse once more before I left for the day. Now DD is eating close to 14 oz while I am away at work. DD sleeps through the night from 730-8pm until 430-5am. She does still nurse from me when I pick her up after my work day, around 3:45p, 5p, 630p, and once more right before bed 730-8p. I know she should be eating 1-1.5oz for every hour that I am gone, but is it possible for her to need more since she is STTN? I just want to make sure she isn't being over fed, or get in the habit of being over fed as I would like to continue my nursing relationship with her. I am able to keep up fairly well from pumping at work, and my morning pumping session for now, but it just seems like an awful lot of milk for an 8 hour day. Any insight would be great. TIA!

Re: overfeeding DD?

I think it is possible that she needs the 14 ounces since she does STTN. So she nurses 5 or 6 times a day and you actually have about 9 hours between nursing in the AM and nursing in the PM when you pick her up. So, 9 hours * 1.5 ounces/hr = 13.5 ounces. I don't think she's being overfed mama.

Re: overfeeding DD?

One way to give yourself an even better chance of continue the nursing relationship would be to wake baby and nurse her at night. That way she'd get an extra session at the breast, and the stimulation of nursing at night would be good for your supply. Just a thought- I know that when a baby sleeps through, it's really difficult to want to give that up!

Re: overfeeding DD?

I agree with mommal. It can be difficult in some cases to maintain good production after returning to work, for a few reasons. If baby is also not nursing for a long stretch overnight that is another possible strike against milk production. This is very individual but just something to think about. Do you go to sleep when baby does? Because if not, you could even simply nurse baby before you go to bed.

But basically, if possible you want to encourage baby to nurse as much as possible when you are together-nights if possible, but you can also use weekends, days off, to nurse baby lots and help keep production in good shape.

Re: overfeeding DD?

I had been getting her up a couple times at night to feed her, then I recently got some poor advice from a pediatrician telling me if she was sleeping, not to wake her. She normally only feeds on one breast at a time. Is waking up one time sufficient enough? Last night I heard her stirring a little around 1am so I got her up and fed her. Yes I usually go to bed with baby. I have been using every opportunity on weekends to nurse as much as possible. She loves her sleep though, this past weekend she took two 3 hour naps, which doesn't leave me a whole lot of nursing time. Should I wake her from these naps earlier?

Re: overfeeding DD?

I don't know if I would monkey with the naps. But it's terrific that you're open to night-nursing. It's impossible to say whether or not 1 nighttime session is "enough" because so much depends on you and your baby as individuals. But it's a terrific place to start. I would continue on with the single nighttime session for a while, and see what happens!